[Comment] Offline: Defending the left hand of the state

June 26, 2018

The Lancet 391, 10139 (2018)

Author: Richard Horton

On Jan 14, 1992, Le Monde published an interview with the French social scientist, Pierre Bourdieu (1930–2002). Bourdieu drew a distinction between what he called the two hands of the state. The left hand represented those ministries that “are the trace…of the social struggles of the past”—notably, health and education. The right hand was symbolised by “the technocrats of the Ministry of Finance”. Bourdieu had lived through a decade of Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, and the influence their policies had had on politicians in France.